Ciarán O'Reilly is the producing director and one of the co-founders of The Irish Repertory Theatre, an Off-Broadway theatre dedicated to showcasing the Irish and Irish-American voice through drama and performance. His previous directing credits include Sea Marks, The Freedom of the City, Beyond the Horizon and more with The Irish Rep, as well as Conor McPherson’s The Weir, which earned him a Lucille Lortel nomination. He also has numerous acting credits that include television, New York theatre, and Dublin theatre.

O’Reilly’s latest project is directing a revival of McPherson’s Port Authority for Irish Rep, and StageBuddy.com caught up with him to talk about working on the play.

You directed Conor McPherson’s The Weir with The Irish Repertory Theatre last year - would you like to describe your relationship with and impressions of his pieces?

I felt a great affinity to the characters in The Weir. I come from a small town in Ireland and know these people. What I particularly love is the kindness and compassion that Conor brought out in locals in The Weir. I believe The Weir was one of McPherson’s first plays that is not in monologue form – a usage he had mastered in plays like This Lime Tree Bower and St. Nicholas. But yet he managed to include many a fine monologue story and allowed his characters and audience uninterrupted airings of compelling stories. In Port Authority, he returned to the format with glorious results.

Port Authority portrays three men with three very distinct approaches to significant moments in their lives. You obviously have three actors at very different points in their lives and careers. Do you feel like that kind of real life dynamic affected the final product at all?

I suppose the ages of the performers do naturally lend themselves to a certain take on their story lines. When Peter Maloney towards the end of the plays sighs and says: “Thinking about regret and worry. And when you get to my age, you give up on them because they don’t help anything,” you suddenly realize that there is not any great distance between the singer and the song. I do feel blessed with a cast that feel the heartbeat.

Do you personally identify with any of the characters? 

There are moments from the two younger characters that I identify mightily – and perhaps not too flatteringly. I find myself very often to have the “go with the flow” itinerary of Kevin -- accepting what’s available because it’s easy. (Remember the song from Finian’s Rainbow: "When I am not near the girl I love, I love the girl I’m near.") I have certainly been known to have one too many gin and tonics, and though I’m sure I don’t remember what I might have said or done, it is filed, as Mr. McPherson wrote, “under Moronic Moments to be Relived Again And Again.”

When I saw the production, I was particularly intrigued by the design of Charlie Corcoran’s set. Were there any particular concepts or inspiration fueling what the set turned out to be?

Charlie and I have done a lot of plays together and we both carefully start with the settings as described by the author. At Irish Rep, we always try to present that which the author intended – literally and spiritually. In the case of Port Authority, Conor writes that the play is set in a theatre. That doesn't give you much to go on and it also gives you everything to go on. When this was done at the Atlantic Theatre, I believe they set it in a bus station. We chose to use a very specific pier (Dun Laoghaire) that overlooks Dublin Port and all the locations that are referred to in the play -- including the young man's final walk with his girlfriend. It seemed a good place for reflection. All three characters are in a kind of limbo and by virtue of telling their story, they hope to find some release.

Port Authority is the first of three shows The Irish Repertory Theatre is producing this season. How does it fit in or compare with the other productions?

I suppose one could say that Conor McPherson represents a new generation of playwrights coming out of Ireland and Hugh Leonard (Da) comes from the old guard. The characters from each play are dealing with the ghosts of their past. A Christmas Memory brings the young Truman Capote back to the home of his youth and he too honors the memory of those that have gone. If there is one thing to tie all these shows together, it is that it deals with the potent memories of your past and how they shaped their lives.

Performances of Port Authority continue through November 16 at the DR2 Theatre. For more information go to https://www.irishrep.org/